Victorian Heritage Database Report
Report generated 18/06/17
RIPPON LEA
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
RIPPON LEA SOHE 2008
1 ripponlea elsternwick front entrance
ripponlea elsternwick service wing &
yard nov1984
ripponlea elsternwick look out tower
nov1984
H0614 Rippon Lea - National Trust of
Australia (Vic)
H0614 Rippon Lea Dining - National
Trust of Australia (Victoria)
H0614 Rippon Lea sitting - National
Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Location
192 HOTHAM STREET ELSTERNWICK, GLEN EIRA CITY
Municipality
GLEN EIRA CITY
Level of significance
Registered
Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number
H0614
Heritage Overlay Numbers
HO36
VHR Registration
February 19, 1986
Heritage Listing
H0614 Rippon Lea family picnic National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Victorian Heritage Register
Statement of Significance
Last updated on - June 24, 1999
Rippon Lea was commenced in 1868 by Frederick Sargood, a most successful politician and merchant. He was
born in England in 1834 and arrived in Melbourne in 1850. He soon joined his father's wholesale soft goods firm,
spending some time as its manager on the goldfields. Sargood entered the Legislative Council in 1874. He was
Victoria?s first Minister for Defence in 1883. Sir Frederick Sargood was created CMG. In 1885 and KCMG in
1890 as a reward for his contribution to public life. He died suddenly in 1903.
Rippon Lea was designed by the leading firm of architects, Reed and Barnes. Joseph Reed had travelled in
Europe in 1863, including northern Italy. When he returned he introduced the use of polychromy. While not the
first examples, Rippon Lea and the Independent Church in Collins Street were the best and set a fashion which
became a distinctly Melbourne style, particularly used for houses and churches. Its popularity was possible
because of the new availability of different coloured bricks. Reed's fine Lombardic Romanesque details soon
became debased by others.
As Sargood's family grew and his fortunes prospered, Rippon Lea was extended to include 33 rooms - a
complete mansion. The cast iron porte cochere and the northern conservatory were added in 1897. The
architects were Taylor and Fitts. The ballroom was added in 1882 and remodelled in 1889. Many alterations
have changed the interior and exterior during the ownerships of Benjamin Nathan and later his daughter Mrs
Louisa Jones in the 1930s and are in their own right of significance.
Sir Thomas Bent owned the property from 1903 until 1911 but never lived there. He subdivided much of the land.
The original garden dates from about 1868, and it seems that William Guilfoyle of the Botanic Gardens was
involved. It was redesigned in a more natural style in the 1880s by Sargood and his head gardener, Adam
Anderson. The lake, waterfalls, fernery, hill and grotto are balanced by mighty deciduous trees and conifers.
These are interspersed with, but never dominated by Australian species such as eucalyptus and other exotics.
The sinuous drive with its carefully prepared approach to the house is notable. The original vegetable gardens,
orchard and outer paddocks no longer survive. The shade house is important as the largest known in Australia
and possibly the world. Its curved plan and form of construction are particularly notable. It was built about 1884.
Construction dates
1868,
Architect/Designer
Reed & Barnes,
Heritage Act Categories Heritage place,
Other Names
RIPPONLEA,
Hermes Number
427
Property Number
History
Associated People:
Extent of Registration
AMENDMENT OF REGISTER OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Historic Building No. 614 Rippon Lea, 192 Hotham Street, Elsternwick. City of Caulfield (to the extent of the
whole of the land, the gardens and the buildings).
[Victoria Government Gazette No. 11 19 February 1986 p. 417]
This place/object may be included in the Victorian Heritage Register pursuant to the Heritage Act 1995. Check
the Victorian Heritage Database, selecting 'Heritage Victoria' as the place data owner.
For further details about Heritage Overlay places, contact the relevant local council or go to Planning Schemes
Onlinehttp://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/